Tim Skubick dishes on elections in Midland visit

John Kennett jkennett@mdn.net

Updated 9:50 am, Monday, July 18, 2016

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John Kennett | jkennett@mdn.net
Off the Record host Tim Skubick was at the Midland Country Club Wednesday to share his views on politics during the Midland Area Chamber of Commerce's Issues and Answers program.

John Kennett | jkennett@mdn.net
Off the Record host Tim Skubick was at the Midland Country Club Wednesday to share his views on politics during the Midland Area Chamber of Commerce's Issues and Answers program.

Tim Skubick dishes on elections in Midland visit

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Not many people would disagree that leadership is lacking in Lansing politics.

“Political leadership is doing what you believe is the right thing to do and not worrying about the next election. We have precious little of that going on at the national level and at the state level,” Skubick said at the Midland Country Club.

The “Off the Record” host added that if politicians practiced proper political leadership, the electorate would respond positively.

“The politician would then be saying, ‘The electorate is more important than I am.’ But, right now, getting reelected drives the process. Will this win us votes? Will this help us keep control of the House? If we vote for this, will we lose control of the House?” Skubick said.

Not only is leadership lacking, but compromise, Skubick said.

“Isn’t that what democracy is?” he said. “Coming up with a compromise in the legislative process is the essence of what the process is. Not everybody gets everything they want. We’re not totally happy, but we’ve done something for the people, which is what it is supposed to be.”

At 45 years, Skubick is the longest tenured member of the state press corps.

“I go back to what Gov. (William) Milliken said to me, ‘If you do good public policy, the politics will take care of itself.’ I think he’s right,” said Skubick as he wandered among the tables and kept his audience laughing with his quick wit and sharp tongue.

“Are there enough angry, white men to elect Donald Trump?” Skubick said. “This is the core of his constituency. He has a gender problem with women. Hillary has a huge gender problem with men.”

Skubick predicted that a lot of voters will not cast a ballot for president.

“If people don’t vote, who will that help? Traditionally, I think it will hurt (Clinton),” Skubick said.

Upcoming state House election

“Here is the theme the Democrats are going to play: ‘The Republicans have been running the government for six years, if you like what you got — Flint water crisis or veterans home in Grand Rapids where people are being abused — go ahead and vote Republican. If you don’t, vote for us.’”

Republicans will counter by stating that unemployment is as low as it has been in 15 years. The state is on the comeback along with the auto industry and everything is rosy.

“The truth lies somewhere in between,” Skubick said.

Candidates for governor in 2018

Leaving out Bill Schuette, who is expected to run for governor in 2018, Skubick listed the following Republican possibilities:

Even though Michigan has the most restrictive term limit law in the nation, democracy still remains, Skubick said.

“In 1992 people were fed up with long term politicians and many have changed their mind about them,” Skubick said. “But, there is not enough (backlash) in the electorate to change term limits”.

Even though term limits have not ruined democracy, they have made it a lot hard to enact legislation.

“Show me a Democrat or Republican who came into the House, when their six years is up, almost to the person, not 100 percent, say, ‘I’m just getting to the point I know what I’m doing.’ The learning curve is very step,” he said.

But, term limits inhibit the ability to make legislative deals.

“You can’t make a deal unless you trust the person you are working with. Trust doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time,” he said. “The lobbyists will tell you that under term limits, the politicians are very wishy-washy.”

Skubick would like to see term limits expanded. Instead of six years in the House and eight in the Senate, increase those numbers to 14 and 16, respectively.

Media and voter bias

Skubick didn’t back down when one attendee stated that the media has two standards and claimed that the media is biased, which brought a solid round of applause from the attendees.

“I think you are (absolutely) wrong,” Skubick responded. “I feel strongly about this. Anybody remember John Engler? He would be on our TV show. I would ask him all the snotty questions that I asked every governor going back to Mr. Milliken.”

Following the show, Skubick would get 10 people that would ask, “Why were you so disrespectful to the governor of the state of Michigan?”

But, he would also get 10 people that would ask, “Why did you let him off the hook? Why didn’t you beat the crap out of Engler like you did with Milliken or Blanchard?”

Skubick squarely laid the bias at the hands of the electorate.

“You don’t like Hillary Clinton, does that make you objective? Absolutely not,” he responded to the attendee. “Do I respect your point of view? Yes, I do. You are looking through your personal beliefs and that is how everybody views the media.”

Calling it “dangerous,” Skubick said that people are only viewing media outlets that reinforce their personal beliefs.

“We should be listening and watching all the different media to get information from a variety of sources and then come to the conclusion of what we personally believe,” he said.

Besides an electorate that is not totally informed, Skubick stated that most people are not engaged politically.

“When the sensible center checks out on politics, we turn our political system over to the fringes on the right and left,” he said. “Show me a Tea Party voter and I will show you a voter who is engaged intellectually. Show me a liberal Democrat and I will show you a person who is passionate about his or her politics. I think that is a dangerous situation.”